Emlen Cresson, his wife, mother and mother-in-law
Well, if I tell you this image features a man with his wife, mother and mother-in-law — can you tell which is whom? I think the family resemblances are pretty obvious. The original owner conveniently identified the subjects and date, making it easy for us to track them down in the records.
This group shows a standing gentleman, identified as Emlen Cresson. Emlen was born in 1811, so he was about 33 when this picture was taken. The Cresson’s were a prominent Quaker family in Philadelphia, known for their prosperity and philanthropy. The lady seated at the center is his wife, Priscilla (Prichett) Cressen, born about 1815 and so about 29 years old here. On one side of Priscilla, looking like an older version of herself, is her mother — identified on the photo as Mrs Prichett, research shows she was Edith (Hatten) Pritchett, perhaps the Edith Hatten born 1797 and so aged 47 here. The stouter lady, who clearly contributed to the physiognomy of Emlen, is his mother Sarah (Emlen) Cresson, born 1787, and thus aged about 57 at the time of this daguerreotype.
This image has the softer brownish hue typical of gold-toned images, a process that became widespread in 1843. And notice that the cased image has no preserver around the edges — those began to be used about 1845, though many images from 1845-1849 also do not have them. The high tight corsets of the two thinner women seem right for the 1840s as well, so all things considered it seems reasonable to suspect that the 1844 date is correct. The slightly off-center composition of this group suggests that the photographer was new to the art, but there is no other indication of who that may have been. The ClassyArts.com database shows that William Brown, James E McClees, and W A Retzer all opened galleries in Philadelphia about 1844.
